As with all the other types of turbo trainers, the motor resistance turbo trainer does what it says on the tin. It creates resistance though a small but powerful motor which is attached to the trainer’s roller. Motor resistance units are found mainly on high end virtual reality turbo trainers.

When the trainer wants to create more resistance it simply feeds more energy to the motor. The advantage of having a motor resistance turbo trainer is that it can simulate a very varied terrain without you having to continually adjust the resistance settings. This is usually done by hooking your turbo trainer up to a pc and downloading a particular cycling route that you want to train on.

The motor resistance turbo trainer then simulates the exact changes in terrain, so that when you get to a hill 26km into the race, the resistance increases. In addition to this motor resistance units can simulate freewheeling downhill and keep your wheels spinning, allowing you to have realistic rests. This makes training for races on the exact terrain that exists in real life a realistic proposition.

Motor resistance units are usually pretty quiet and they are capable of generating very large amounts of power. They are capable of recreating a number of different resistance curves and are a great option for a varied training experience.

They are not quite as responsive as a trainer which has direct resistance built into it as the trainer will always lag slightly when it reacts to increases in speed and power. This is however something that only the most sensitive of people will notice.

Overall Motor Resistance Turbo Trainers are a great choice if you can afford one and they allow for a fantastic range of training possibilities which makes your indoor bicycle training more interesting.

Pros: Huge training variety possible, seemingly infinite power, freewheeling, training on actual courses for races.Cons: Very expensive, Can rarely be a slight lag when speeding up.Ideal if: You are looking for the best indoor bicycle training possible on your own bike.